Spence: Crawford Did What He Supposed to Against Limited Horn

From Spence’s perspective, Crawford merely did what he was supposed to do against a big underdog with limited boxing ability.

Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, became a world champion in a third weight class by stopping Australia’s Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs) in the ninth round Saturday night to win the WBO welterweight title at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

“I think he did what he was supposed to do,” Spence said during a conference call Tuesday.

“Even a week before their fight, I said Terence Crawford stops Jeff Horn. So, I mean, I wasn’t surprised what he did against Jeff Horn. I feel like Jeff Horn has limited ability, and he basically tries to come in there and just try to bully you. And I think he lacks a lot of fundamentals. But [Crawford] did what he was supposed to do.”

Spence (23-0, 20 KOs), a strong southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, was noncommittal when asked later in Tuesday’s conference call whether his most recent knockouts of former champs Kell Brook and Lamont Peterson were more impressive than Crawford’s win over Horn.

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t thought about it,” Spence said. “I mean, it was a good performance. Jeff Horn was a champion. And, you know, he did what he was supposed to do. I don’t know if it was better or not.”

The 28-year-old Spence does know that, assuming he is successful Saturday night against Carlos Ocampo, he would like to face Crawford in a welterweight title unification fight. Spence stressed again Tuesday that fights against WBA champ Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC) and the winner of a WBC championship match between Danny Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) will be easier to make because they’re all advised by Al Haymon, but Spence still wants to prove himself against Crawford.

“I think that is a definite future fight,” Spence said. “He holds one of the belts and, like I said, I wanna be undisputed welterweight champion of the world. So I’m gonna have to come over there and snatch the belt from him. So, I mean, it’s a fight that’s gonna happen definitely in the future.”

Showtime will televise Spence’s mandatory defense of his IBF welterweight title against Mexico’s Ocampo (22-0, 13 KOs) as the main event of a tripleheader Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Their 12-round, 147-pound title fight will headline a card at Ford Center at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility in Frisco, Texas.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.